1979 Chairman's Letter http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1979.html
Letters to Shareholders (1957 - 2012)
Context: The primary test of managerial economic performance is the achievement of a high earnings rate on equity capital employed (without undue leverage, accounting gimmickry, etc.) and not the achievement of consistent gains in earnings per share. In our view, many businesses would be better understood by their shareholder owners, as well as by the general public, if managements and financial analysts modified the primary emphasis they place upon earnings per share, and upon yearly changes in that figure.
“In most cases the favorable price performance will be accompanied by a well-defined improvement in the average earnings, in the dividend, and in the balance-sheet position. Thus in the long run the market test and the ordinary business test of a successful equity commitment tend to be largely identical.”
Source: The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing (1949), Chapter II, The Investor and Stock-Market Fluctuations, p. 25
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Benjamin Graham 64
American investor 1894–1976Related quotes
Source: Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, 1999, p. 98.
Source: Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, 1999, p. 98.
13 August 2009, "Obama and the Post Office" http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/obama-postoffice126.html
2000s
Source: The Inefficient Stock Market - What Pays Off And Why (1999), Chapter 6, Counterattack-The First Wave, p. 63 (See also: Survival bias)